Kentucky moved into the No. 1 spot in the recruiting rankings for the 2022 cycle on Wednesday night as five-star prospect Chris Livingston picked the Wildcats in a commitment ceremony over Tennessee State and Georgetown. Livingston is the third ‘Cats commitment in the 2022 class and the third five-star talent to join the program in a class shaping up to be among the best since John Calipari took the reins in Lexington.
Livingston, a 6-foot-6 combo forward from Oak Hill Academy, is ranked as the No. 6 overall prospect in his class according to updated rankings in the 247Sports Composite and the second-ranked player at his position. Incredibly, he’s the second-highest ranked player in Kentucky’s commitment class behind Shaedon Sharpe, who earlier in the day became the No. 1 prospect in the Composite rankings by unseating UCLA-bound Amari Bailey and suspected Kentucky lean Dereck Lively II, who held the spot for just a day after Bailey’s month-long reign.
Livingston’s commitment to Kentucky marks yet another recruiting accomplishment for Calipari and his coaching staff in a 2022 class that could go down as one of the all-time best of the modern era. The three current commitments are all top-20 prospects while Dereck Lively II, Cason Wallace and Adem Bona — all five-stars who meet that same criteria — are all considered Kentucky leans. No program in the modern era has secured commitments from six top-20 talents except one — and that was Kentucky in 2013.
Kentucky had its worst season under Calipari last season, going 9-16 and missing the NCAA Tournament, so the response to bolster the talent in the program has been a remarkable bounceback. And while the class isn’t set to arrive on campus for another year, it seems like the class is poised to build upon offseason momentum built by a strong incoming class mixed of high-schoolers and transfers that has UK right now ranked No. 14 in Gary Parrish’s most recent top 25 (and one) preseason rankings.
